Provo Avalanche Advisory

Forecaster: Bruce Tremper

BOTTOM LINE

Danger by aspect and elevation on slopes approaching 35° or steeper.
(click HERE for tomorrow's danger rating)


Danger Rose Tutorial

 

 

There is a MODERATE danger of wet sluffs and damp, new-snow sluffs at elevations below about 9,000 feet on all aspects.  There are also pockets of MODERATE danger of deeper, slab avalanches both on recent wind drifts along the upper elevation ridges and on pockets of buried, faceted snow above about 9,500’, mostly on north through east facing slopes.

CURRENT CONDITIONS

 

We got slimed yesterday afternoon and overnight with weather right out of Blade Runner—drenching rain falling through the choking smog.   Rain fell yesterday up to 9,200’.  Sundance reported over 2 inches of water overnight, almost all from rain, while Alta UDOT reported 1 inch of water with 6 inches of snow, which is a leg-wrenching, 20 percent.  It might pass for powder in Oregon but it goes by much less flattering terms around here.  Ridge top winds are light and temperatures have barely dropped below freezing at 9,500’.

RECENT ACTIVITY

Although there was no avalanche activity yesterday, there were reports of widespread wet sluffs at lower elevations from the rain overnight.    

THREAT #1
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 12 hours.

 

Today’s main problem will once again be wet snow sluffs especially at low and mid elevations where the rain has made the snow soggy.  Many of the lower and mid elevation slopes have already sluffed overnight, but I’m sure you could find many more today that you can get going by pushing snow down them.  You can likely get manky, mashed potato sluffs going within the new, dense snow as well if you push up a pile on steep slopes.

THREAT #2
WHERE PROBABILITY SIZE TREND
      Over the next 24 hours.

You might be cursing the rain, but you should be celebrating.  People reported that it destroyed all the weak snow on the surface—at least on lower and mid elevation slopes.  We were terrified that the widespread areas of near surface facets and surface hoar would get buried and preserved, but it looks like we dodged a bullet this time, with the possible exception of slopes above about 10,000’. 

We also will have to worry about our second problem, of lingering weak snow deeper in the snowpack.  First, yesterday, I was finding pockets of faceted snow under wind slabs that shielded it from being destroyed by warm wind and rain that you may be able to trigger on slopes mostly above 9,500’.  Second, Evelyn did an excellent job yesterday of showing how avalanche paths that ran during the Christmas cycle have reloaded on top of weak faceted snow near the ground. (Photo gallery).  Also, in the thinner snowpack areas—namely places outside the core of the Wasatch Range, there are still facets on the ground that can be overloaded as new snow accumulates.  Watch out for the Uinta Mountains, for instance.

MOUNTAIN WEATHER

 

Continued poopy weather will continue this morning with rain to about 8,000’ and wet snow above.  Precipitation should end by mid morning and be jus t scattered showers after that.  Ridge top winds should remain reasonable around 10-15 mph from the southwest with ridge top temperatures just under freezing. Snow should pick up again on Saturday as a more vigorous system arrives.  Temperatures will finally drop about 10 degrees on Sunday and Monday with stronger southwesterly, ridge top winds, and we may finally be able to blow out the valley smog.

GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

 WPG operations planning page is here.

The last of the Brighton Discount tickets have been reduced to $45, with all proceeds going to the Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center.  Click HERE for details.

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center is hosting a Level 2 avalanche class in February which is now open for registration by going to the Black Diamond retail store.  More information is HERE.  

Tickets are now available for the annual Backcountry Awareness Dinner on February 13th, with registration through the Snowbird Renaissance Center.

Beacon training parks are up and running!  There is one at Snowbasin, one on the Park City side at the top of Canyon’s gondola, one in Little Cottonwood near the Snowbird parking structure on the bypass road, and in Big Cottonwood a training  park is at the west end of Solitude's lower parking lot.

If you want to get this avalanche advisory e-mailed to you daily click HERE.

For a text only version, the link is on the left side bar, near the top.

UDOT highway avalanche control work info can be found by calling (801) 975-4838. Our statewide toll free line is 1-888-999-4019 (early morning, option 8).

The UAC depends on contributions from users like you to support our work.  To find out more about how you can support our efforts to continue providing the avalanche forecasting and education that you expect please visit our Friends page.

Your snow and avalanche observations help everyone in the backcountry community.  Please let us know what you're seeing by leaving a message at (801) 524-5304 or 1-800-662-4140, or email us at uac@utahavalanchecenter.org. (Fax 801-524-6301).

The information in this advisory is from the U.S. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content.  This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.  This advisory does not apply to ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally conducted.

Bruce Tremper will update this advisory by 7:30 tomorrow morning.

This information does not apply to developed ski areas or highways where avalanche control is normally done.  This advisory is from the U.S.D.A. Forest Service, which is solely responsible for its content. This advisory describes general avalanche conditions and local variations always occur.

This advisory provided by the USDA Forest Service, in partnership with:

The Friends of the Utah Avalanche Center, Utah Division of State Parks and Recreation, Utah Division of Emergency Management, Salt Lake County, Salt Lake Unified Fire Authority and the friends of the La Sal Avalanche Center. See our Sponsors Page for a complete list.